Waldrop Throws Another Gem As 'Noles Down Eagles

By FSU Sports Information&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Wed 11:51 PM, Mar 12, 2014

FT. MYERS, Fla. – Continuing to prove her spot on the 2014 USA Softball Player of the Year Watch List, junior Lacey Waldrop used a 13-strikeout performance to carry the No. 10/11-ranked Florida State softball team (22-4) to a 5-0 shutout of Florida Gulf Coast (14-11-1) at the FGCU Softball Complex on March 12.

“This was Florida State Softball tonight,” said head coach Lonni Alameda. “Strong pitching in the circle, excellent defense and great situational hitting at the plate. The top of the order produced like they always do, and Lacey was almost perfect. It was a great finish to a long road trip. Looking forward to carry this momentum home as we face NC State this weekend.”

Florida State opened the scoring in the second as Alex Kossoff led off the inning with a slap single over the pitcher’s head. She stole second but was retired at the plate after getting in a rundown after Tiffani Brown hit an infield single.

Courtney Senas followed with a screaming double past the third baseman to score Brown from third. Maddie O’Brien took the first pitch she saw right back up the box for an RBI single and made it 2-0 FSU.

Lacey Waldrop came out of the gates on fire. She opened the game with four straight strikeouts which created a stretch where 13 of the last 15 outs with Waldrop in the circle were strikeouts.

The Seminoles added three more in the fifth with consecutive singles by Kossoff, Brown, Senas and O’Brien to make it 5-0 Florida State. O’Brien finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and now has 44 RBI on the year which is three shy of her entire 2013 total (47).

Waldrop (13-2) continued to stymie the Eagle hitters as she finished with a complete game, allowing only two hits with zero walks and 13 strikeouts as she faced only four batters over the minimum. It is the fourth time this year where Waldrop has fanned at least 10 batters and did not surrender a walk. Waldrop also has 23 strikeouts in her last 11.0 innings.

The Seminoles are back in Tallahassee this weekend for a three-game set against NC State (15-6, 6-0 ACC) on March 15 and 16. There will be a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 5:00 p.m., and a 12:00 p.m. game on Sunday.

Follow Florida State softball on Twitter (@FSU_Softball) and Instagram (fsusoftball), and like our Facebook page (Facebook.com/FSUsoftball) to keep with everything about Seminole softball throughout the 2014 season.

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